Rope and cord fastener



L. W. BAUER AND l. E. DAVIS. ROPE AND CORD FASTENER.

APPLICATION FILED APR. I5. 1919.

. n Patented Mar.9,192().v

@Hom/1 @1d Vio - UNITED STATES*l PATENT OFFICE.

LoUIs W. BAUER AND JOHN E. DAVIS, or wAsHrNGT'oN, DISTRICT on COLUMBIA, As-

sIGNoRs 0F ONE-THIRD To LESTER WOLFE, .or NEW YORK, N. Y.

Born AND ooRD FAs'rENEn.

Application mea April i5,

To all whom t may concern: j

Be it known that we, LOUIS W. BAUnRand JOHNA E. Davis, citizens of the United States, residing atVashington, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rope and Cord Fasteners, of which thefollowing is af specification.

Our invention relates to cord or rope fasteners, and particularly to devices of this character adapted to securely hold both bights of a looped cord or rope.

The object of our invention is to provide a rope or cord fastener particularly-adapted forsecuring the cord about the to of a mail sack or pouch 'which shall permit the cord to be quickly drawn tight to close the sack and which will securely hold the cord tof maintain the pouch closed. further object of our invention is to provide a device as mentioned equipped with means whereby should onebight of the loop be partially withdrawn therefrom the other bight will be drawn within the devicey a corresponding amount, thereby maintaining the same contracted size of the loop. A further object of our invention is to provide a device as mentioned equipped with means whereby a padlock may be used to secure the partsin locking position to prevent -lunauthoi'iz'ed tampering with the contents ofthe pouch. A further and particular object of our invention is to provide a device of the chan acter'u-nder consideration which shall be of few parts, simple of construction, and oflow cost to manufacture. Other objects-'will appear hereinafter.

Vith these objects in view, our' invention consists generally in apeeuliarly tapered housing through which-both bights of the looped cord or rope are adapted to lbe passed, a. rotary member' adapted to wedge said bights against-the oppositeY walls of the housing, and means forv holding said rotary member in wedging position. Our invention further' consists in a device as mentioned in which said rotary member is mounted upon a slide having' limited' move-l ment within said housing and equipped with' meansfor receiving a locking device, such as a padlock, to hold the rotary member in Specification of LettersPatent.

i919.` serial No. 290,167.

wedging position. Our invention further Vconsists `in a device of the Vcharacter undery a slide mounted for' limited movement ,therein, a rotary member carried by said slide and adapted in one position to clampthe bights of the rope against the opposite walls of the housing, and said housing being provided with means to prevent accidental retraction of the rotary member and slide such as from-shaking or jarring.`

Figure 1 is aplan view of a clamping def its f preon the line Patented Mar. 9, 1920.

Vconsideration comprising a tapered housing,

cates a tapered housing which is .mounted Y upon a [ibasek plate 2. The base plate is stamped from sheet metal and is provided at one end with an upturned lange 3 provided i with apertures 4l, 4.- to receive the bights of a iope Aor cord 5. of the plate; 2 are bent upon the opposite `side of' the plate from the housing' 1 form- The longitudinal edgesA ing y"flanges (i to hold the usual card usedv in j l conjunction with mailbag fastenings, and at the opposite end from the flange 3 the plate is formed'with a transverse flange 7 forming a stop for said card.

The housing 1 isV stamped Jfrom avsingle i piece of metaland comprisestlie top portion 8 parallel with the; plate 2 and the substantiall'y vertical sides 9, 9. Any suitable means may be 1provided for securing the.

housing to theplate 2,' but to conserve metal and labor tongues 1() and 11 arev struck upwardly from the plate 2 and these are provided with, reduced portions 12 extending thro-ugh apertures in the top 8 of the hous# ing' and upset thereon, thereby riveting the housing securely to the base plate. The

housing i-s of peculiar vformation. From end. to` end the housing, as an entirety, is

formed with tapering side walls, as shownv by a casual refenence to Fig. 1. The taper Said slide is is not uniform, however, but is interrupted by surfaces which gradually and collectively form the taper.

As seen in Fig. 3 the taper constitutes substantially two compartments. From the enlarged end to point 14 a receiving compartment exists. It is relatively wide, that is, its walls arespaced 'apart sufficiently to permit ample room for thecords to pass freely by the locking wheel 24, when the wheel is held within this compartment in the dotted line position, without causing any binding action upon the cords. A second compartment is defined by the surfaces from point 14 to the smaller extremity 13. This is the wedging and locking compartment. From 14 to line it is abruptly constricted to form shoulders 15 and this constriction is partially relieved by the slightly flared surfaces from lines m and 4 to point 9. This partial relief has the effect of allowing the cords to slightly expand after passing shoulders 15, with the result that a pronounced pressure is created against the flared surface,

Vtending to force the locking wheel toward the smaller end of the housing and thus securely maintain .it in .wedging position. The smaller end of the housing has its walls parallel as at 13.

16 indicates a slide mounted within the housing 1 and comprising a plate 17 having depending tapered side walls 18 which extend around the outer end thereof as at 19. provided with a longitudinally disposed slot 20 through which the tongue 11 extends, said tongue limiting the movement of the slide as indicated clearly in Fig. 3. The inner end'of the portion 17 of the slide is provided with an extension or ear 21 having a perforation 22 to receive a trun- Anion 23 formed on a rotary member 24. To

save the cost of labor and materials, the trunnion 23 is preferably formed integral with said rotary member. The rotary membar24 is preferably in the form of a grooved, knurled wheel, and when the slide 16 is moved inwardly, said wheel clamps the bights of the rope V5 between itself and the Walls 9 as previously described. When in this position, the rope can not be withdrawn to enlarge the size of the loop 5. Should suiiicient force be applied to withdraw one bight of the rope inthe direction of the arrow a, the rotary member 24 compensates for said movement by drawingV inwardly a like portion of the rope in the direction of the l arrow b. See Fig. 3. Also when the wheel 24 is in the said position, it is impossible to shake the device loose or move the same away from the loop 5 without first withdrawing the slide and said wheel. withdrawn into the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3, the bights of the rope are free to pass readily through the housing so as to either increase or decrease the size of the loop 5. lWhile the device is practically adapted for any purpose where it is desired to hold both bights of a' rope, it is evident that it is preminently adapted to use as a mail-bag fastening device. In order to further adapt the same for such use, and particularly with registered mail where the mail Vpouches are locked, I provide means for se* curely locking the wedging or compensating wheel 24 in position. For this purpose, the housing 1 is provided at its outer end with an extension 25V provided with an aperture 26, and the outer end of the slide 16 is provided with a -corresponding aperture 27 which registers with the aperture 26 when the device is in locking position. These registering apertures are adapted to receive the shackle 28 of a padlock, and it is obviousthat with a padlock so positioned therein the rope 5 is securely locked against being tampered with by unauthorized persons.

It is obvious that whenthe shackle of the padlock is within the apertures 26 and 27 that the slide 17 will have some longitudinal motion inasmuch as the shackle does not completely fill said apertures. The shoulders 15 and the flare a2 to 9 will normally prevent accidental retractive movement of said slide,

but any one tampering with the device may move the slide until the same firmly abuts the shackle of the padlock.

To avoid such movement of the slide from p `When the device is to be used for a rope holder other than that of a mail bag fastener, as, for instance, for awning cords, the flanges 6 and 7 are dispensed with and the plate 2 is used for securing the device in position.

Also the extension 25 and apertures 26 and 27 are omitted, as may also be the perforated flange 3u Y We claim 1. A cord fastener comprising' a base plate, a slide movable on said lbase plate, a locking wheel movable with said slide, a housing fixed upon the base plate having its side walls bodily tapered from end to end to provide two compartments, 'one wider than the other, the walls being abruptly constricted between the two compartments.

2. A cord fastener comprising a base plate, a slide movable on said base plate, a locking wheel movable with said slide, a housing 'fixed upon the base plate having its side flared between said constricted portion and Vthe smaller end of the housing and tapered from said slightly' flared portion toward the smaller end of the housing.

3. A cord fastener comprising a housing,

a slide movable therein, said housing and said slide being provided with apertures p adapted toregister and receive the shackle of a padlock, and a locking Wheel movable with said slide. Y Y

In testimony whereof Wehav'e signed our 10 LoUIs W. BAUER. f JOHN E. DAVIS. l

Witnesses:

y lLouis H.. CRooK,

R. H. SMITH.y 

